Author Notes: These are salty, sweet, fragrant, finger-licking good. You can either make them in the pods, slurping the sauce clinging to the outside while stripping out the beans with your teeth or use shelled beans in a saucy side dish. We often serve a version of this for guests to snack on while we tend the grill or finish in the kitchen. —savorthis

Food52 Review: WHO: savorthis hails from Denver, Colorado and counts front end web design, marketing, and of course, cooking among her talents.
WHAT: Edamame shellacked with a a salty-sweet range of flavors, perfect as a pre-party appetizer.
HOW: It's as simple as adding the ingredients in groups to a blazing-hot wok. Stir fry and serve!
WHY WE LOVE IT: The sauce on the edamame shells was finger-licking good -- we love that savorthis calls for either shelled edamame or whole pods depending on how you want to serve them. —The Editors

Serves snackings for 8

1pound edamame (in shell or not)

1 orange

2teaspoons fermented black beans, rinsed and chopped

1tablespoon garlic, minced (2 medium cloves)

1teaspoon ginger, minced

2tablespoons shallots, minced (1 medium)

1teaspoon mirin

2teaspoons soy

1/4teaspoon sesame oil

1/2teaspoon chili sauce (or a fresh red chili sliced crosswise)

Rinse edamame, then boil in salted water (or microwave covered with 3 T water and pinch of salt) about 5-7 minutes for frozen, 2-3 for fresh. Drain.

Zest orange (I prefer the thin strips to a microplane. You can peel the outer part of the peel, trim any pith and cut into thin strips) and then juice the orange. Mix shallots, garlic, black beans and ginger in one bowl, mirin, soy, sesame oil and 2 T orange juice in the other. If using chili sauce, add it to the liquid. If using fresh chili, add it to the shallot mixture.

Heat a couple tablespoons oil in a wok or cast iron pan over very high heat. Add edamame and stir until just beginning to blister. Add shallot mixture and stir for several minutes until very fragrant and shallots just begin to brown/crisp. Add 1 T (packed) zest and toss another minute. Stir in mirin mixture and toss until the edamame are thick and glazed and no liquid remains. Poor into a bowl immediately and enjoy.

NOTE: you can follow these steps for either pods or shelled edamame though you can boil/cook the shelled beans a little less.

I use a garlic black bean sauce all the time for this and similar dishes. Just mix it in with the other ingredients. I omit garlic when I use a garlic black bean sauce instead of a straight black bean sauce.

I would say no. Natto (as I recall) has a pretty funky aroma and texture whereas the fermented black beans are just salty and "depthy." You could certainly try it, but I think it would be a different beast altogether.

I finally found fermented black beans and made this with string beans and asparagus for a Lunar New Year celebration. Totally amazing! My only regret is not seeking out the black beans sooner. Can't wait to try this with edamame.

I used this amazing sauce, yet again, last night. Oranges are not in season here, so I don't have them on hand; I used an excellent ponzu instead. And I used the sauce on chunks of tofu that I'd pressed (under a cutting board topped with a small heavy saucepan) to release some of the liquid while preparing the sauce ingredients; then I patted them dry and fried them in a large non-stick skillet with a touch of peanut oil. From there, I proceeded with the recipe as written. Fantastic! I've gone through more fermented black beans in the past month than I've used all year. What a wonderful recipe. ;o)

Spectacularly tasty. We didn't have black beans, so used a bit of oyster sauce instead. No mirin-used sake instead. We used already shelled beans and found a use for our neglected chopsticks. Next time I'll try in the pod.

Made this tonight with shelled edamame. AMAZING! I could tell dear husband wasn't excited when I told him about the recipe and needed to buy fuermented beans but once it was in front of him he kept groaning that he couldn't stop eating them and how he wanted more! I only made this with half a pound of edamame but the full recipe of sauce. Truly addictive! Worth waiting for so I could get all the ingredients from the asian market.

I'm so glad you tried and liked it. And I assume you have some black beans left. They last forever and add such a great depth of flavor to dishes. I use them all the time. Funny- I often get less-than-excited looks from my husband too in describing dishes that end with praise. Maybe I need to learn to describe them better!

The question function is failing me so I thought I'd try this... Has anyone tried these at room temperature? I'd love to bring them to a potluck as a snack, but wouldn't be able to serve them hot... Thanks!!

Hi! They are absolutely good room temp. I even heated up some leftovers the next day (not quite as good but still very edible). We usually suffer through a few really hot ones but then the giant bowl sits on the counter for drive bys until they are gone.

Congrats, savorthis! I'm so happy that this recipe won the contest. I have made this twice since I tested it. The first time, I tossed the sauce with fried tofu chunks (which I'd previously frozen and then squeezed, to reduce the moisture in the tofu. This lets it absorb more sauce.) The next time, I made a quadruple batch of the ingredients, but substituted ponzu for the orange juice, and added no zest. I used a double quantity of the sauce ingredients with stir-fried tofu, shelled edamame and tiny broccoli florets and small chunks of standard and golden zucchini, which I'd lightly stir fried beforehand. It was positively sensational! I made up the rest of the sauce ingredients in the same pan, then put them in a jar in the fridge. I've been using the sauce ever since on everything. I highly recommend this recipe! ;o)

I was one of the lucky testers of this fine recipe. I sent to the editors this enthusiastic recommendation for Community Pick honors:

"This ranks among the best recipes from FOOD52 – or anywhere else – that I’ve tried this year. The mild sweetness of the orange plays off nicely against the bold salted black beans, but I could also see substituting brown rice or cider vinegar for the orange juice, or using the sauce in other dishes. (In fact, I plan to send a few jars of it to my edamame-loving son in college.) Also, if you work quickly, prepping the aromatics and sauce ingredients while the edamame are cooking, you can easily put this together in under 10 minutes. Wonderful recipe! ;o)